IIT Bombay celebrated its 58th Foundation Day

Mumbai: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) celebrated its 58th Foundation Day today. The foundation stone for the internationally recognized Institute was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India on March 10, 1959. IIT Bombay was the second IIT to be established in the country and the first one to be established with a foreign aid received from UNESCO. Since then, the Institute has grown from strength to strength and is now counted among the best engineering institutions across the globe.

Like every year, the Institute felicitated its select alumni for their achievements in diverse fields ranging from academics, research and entrepreneurship. Mr. Sanjay Mashruwala, Managing Director of Reliance Jio Infocom Limited and the Chief Guest for the function gave away the Distinguished Alumnus Awards, Young Alumnus Achiever Awards, the ‘Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya Award for Excellence in Research in Pure Sciences’ and ‘Prof. H.H. Mathur Award for Excellence in Research in Applied Sciences’.

The ‘Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya Award for Excellence in Research in Pure Sciences’ was conferred on Prof. Amiya Pani, Department of Mathematics. The ‘Prof. H.H. Mathur Award for Excellence in Research in Applied Sciences’ was conferred on Prof. Rinti Banerjee, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering.

The Young Alumni Achiever Awards (YAAA) are for alumni who have made outstanding achievements in their chosen field of work and are below 40 years of age. These awards were instituted in the year 2011. The winnders include:
• Prof. Pramod Reddy
• Mr. Prashant Mali

On the occasion, Prof. Devang Khakhar, Director of IIT Bombay spoke at length about the achievements of the Institute. Referring to the brain drain from India, he said, “Today, the situation is much different with more than 86% finding work in India and making great contributions. Looking back over the 68 years, I feel that the hopes and dreams of the founders of the IITs are largely fulfilled. We have a lot to be proud of and celebrate on this Foundation Day.”

Reporting about the Institute’s progress, he said, “The progress of the Institute on all fronts has been very good. Today we have more than 10,000 students on the rolls and more than Rs 300 crore of research funding per year. 18% of the students are women. We have been able to recruit outstanding faculty over the years and have more than 620 faculty members on the rolls at present. Last year, 41 faculty members joined, 30% of whom were women.”
All in all, the event was a great success, with participation from students, alumni and faculty.